Aug 31 2012:
My Mother, Louise, is my greatest role model. She raised 5 children on her own (3yrs-15yrs old) when she became a Widow at the age of 41. She had the opportunity to receive Welfare and Church donations - She would not want to accept either.

Here's part of an amazing conversation I had with my Mother on her 85th Birthday:

We were alone chatting and I asked why she never accepted Church or Welfare help when she was first widowed ?
" What type of lesson would I have taught my children if I didn't show them they had to earn everything by themselves, and never plan on anyone helping them when times are difficult..." she replied.......and Mom was right - My outlook on life would have been completely different. I would have gladly embraced government help at 14 years old.

"One regret I have" she said, "..was that only 1 of my 5 children attends Church regularly...what did I do wrong? " she asked.
"Nothing! " I replied, " I know everyone believes in God and they are all good people....I did not like the confinement or routine of the mass . I feel very close to God when I am in Nature or drawing, painting, working on my art...I would get a ' Natural-High' and feel very close to God."
"Really?!" Mother replied, "That's EXACTLY how I feel when I am in Church! "
We both laughed!
Mom was thrilled to know she did nothing wrong - we all found God in our own way....
And now I understood why she wanted to go to church every day...to get her " Natural High" - that helped her through that day.

My Mother taught me I can do anything - If - ..I am interested in it, ..I work hard at it, ..I don't give up until I accomplish it.

My Mother passed away suddenly the week after her 85th birthday.
All of her children were happily married, and she had 10 amazing Grandchildren

Sep 3 2012:
Having had some more time to give thought to this conversation I have to add that many of my patients have truly been heros and role models for me. I've seen people that would pass as ordinary folks face suffering and death with grace and equaminity. Unfortunately some others have taught me that you can't deal with - that is "face" anything if you're running like h*ll in the opposite direction - a very valuable lesson for me.

Sep 17 2012:
I have had some unfortunate things happen in my life and have been on the receiving end of medical care, so I would like to reciprocate and tell you that some of the doctors and nurses that I have met are people whose sense of compassion and desire to help are truly remarkable. It puts them in that special class of people whom everyone should have the privilege of meeting.

Aug 26 2012:
I have different role models for different aspects of my life that I am working on. For instance, my role model for being a mom is different than my role model in my profession. So there are many. Neil Armstrong was one of them. His quite bravery was something that I admired very much and it came in a time of my life when I needed to understand bravery.

I think my current role model is Maya Anjelou. I have been working on public speaking and often think, 'when I grow up I want to be like Maya Anjelou,' Her speech is very metered and she has the ability to cease conversation around her when she speaks. She has the ability to make people listen.

Then I found out that some of her vocal prowess stems from a time in her life when she could not speak at all. Somehow that must have given her insight into the value of speaking and that value comes across when she speaks. I would love to be able to place value in my speech.

Sep 4 2012:
Mahatma Gandhi
Why? I only have 1964 characters remaining, which really isn't enough to even get started.
Maybe because he could have written really cool bumper stickers like:
Be the change you want to see in the world.
An eye for an eye, leaves the whole world blind.
Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress
And even with 1626 remaining, I'll stop at that, and just let everybody ponder the greatness of the man.

Sep 2 2012:
When I was a new graduate nurse I was the opposite of most of my peers. I was book-smart - I could sit down with an exam and answer questions about caring for patients very well, but I wasn't very good at practical hands-on patient care, at setting priorities, or at organizing my work. My first head nurse, Alice Gonzalves, asked me "So what's your problem? What do you need?" I told her I had plenty of knowledge in my head but it hadn't worked it's way to my hands and feet yet. She told me not to worry, that she would make sure I wouldn't make any mistakes, which she did. She also modeled how to deal with multiple priorities, how to respond to anger and insults, and how to focus on the goals: taking care of patients, working with a team, and getting tasks done. Within a couple of months she turned me into a pretty good nurse with high standards, and I owe her for a lot of the satisfaction I've had over my 42+ year career.

I had the privilege of working at the NIH Clinical Center for almost 11 years as a cancer nurse and spending about 15 years on the front lines of the AIDS epidemic in the US. Those are experiences I wouldn't trade for anything, and I doubt that I would have "been there, done that" if it weren't for Ms Gonsalves.

Aug 27 2012:
“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Neil Armstrong was / will be one of the biggest inspirations of all time.
The nice thing is that when I think of him, I think of the four hundred thousand people who worked together on the project, so that he, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins could get to the moon and unite the spirit of all mankind.

Aug 27 2012:
"One giant leap for mankind".....a beautiful echo !! I feel that line represents the fruit of a tree called collective wisdom. It is the best sound track to have. I felt TED was / is a place where WE together are now making a similar leap, which is why I feel so happy to be amongst the millions of people in this project. It will be nice for our tree to have a second fruit....Good to 'see' you again dear Debra.

Aug 26 2012:
All the nameless people who have stood up to undeserving authority/power - monarchy, theocracy, religious dogma, dictators, generals, bullies, or even corrupt authoritarian elected officials.

Aug 31 2012:
I don't really have a role model, but I always admired the inventor and industrialist Lord William Armstrong. There doesn't seem to be much literature on him really, but if you visit his estate in Northumberland, England, then you can really appreciate the mans ingenuity.http://heritage.imeche.org/Biographies/WilliamArmstrong

Aug 28 2012:
I think it's a shame that so few people have listed a parent as a role model. Mine is my father. Not a perfect man but I loved and respected him. Through his great example as well as his faults, he taught me how to be a better husband, father, and overall human being. Btw Imad, you seriously look like James Franco man. :-)

Sep 1 2012:
I agree, though we tend to be pretty biased to our parents for logical proximity and "parental" reasons, and our judgement might be impaired because of the personal impact involved. Another way to look at role models (from a macro level) is their ability to propagate their message (or actions, etc) and have it resonate enough with the people to leave a discernible and indelible impact on the subjects.

Nonetheless, parents are the everyday un-celebrated heroes of the younger generation.

That's the second time I hear the James Franco thing. I definitely need to start capitalizing on this somehow.

Aug 28 2012:
My greatest inspiration as an independent inventor is Michael Faraday.
Faraday started his life as a nothing - an average boy born to an impoverished family with a low social caste. He taught himself everything he knew from the books in his master's bookbinding shop. Then he went to work as a servant for one of the great scientists of his day - Sir Humphry Davy - and was constantly treated badly because of his low social caste... but he forced himself through all that and more to build the incredible modern world we take for granted. He invented the first electric motor and the Faraday Cage, and discovered diamagnetism. While Faraday's inventions might not have been the very most important in the history of innovation, I greatly admire him for his use of science as a motivation to overcome society.

Aug 27 2012:
Mother Teresa: for one reason only.
According to her, she heard a voice, and then followed it, without hesitation, leaving who she was, what she was and where she was. She became a nun.
On a train one day, she heard the voice again, and she followed it without hesitation, leaving who she was, what she was and where she was.
She went to India to administer to the dying.
She continued to hear this voice and follow it without reservation. Perfectly? I don't know but I do believe that most people do not truly trust what it is they say they believe in, and apparently she did.
Whether you believe what she believed in or not, what do you believe in? Do you trust it?
If you answer yes, are you going to then worry about anything?
If the answer is yes, maybe it is time to reexamine what you believe in.

For thousands of years, humans have gazed at the night skies and envisioned going somewhere.........
out there.
Over these millenniums, humans have passed on these yearnings, and as the world grew more technologically advanced, discovering and learning knew things, while debunking ancient truths, those who were alive when this day supposedly happened, had at their mental fingertips, the emotional history of all of humankind, that only could add to the momentousness of this supposed occasion.

Some years after, I had the opportunity to talk to someone about these types of incredible, events in the history of us beings. When I told them that a person had been to the moon, they replied, "Oh."

There was no meaning in it for them. It meant nothing. It was just another little fact in life and of little consequence.
Methinks we need something new to unite the spirit of humankind.

Sep 1 2012:
While I'm fine with a person following a voice, I believe there's much more to Teresa that what she claims. She is highly spiritual, moral, and a cognitive thinker.
Blind faith can lead you to doing good deeds, but doing them by choice is a whole different accolade.

The spirit of human kind can only be united if we all believe that we're part of this world, and the butterfly effect, karma, call it what you want, is out there.

Aug 26 2012:
I think Tesla and Einstein are my greatest inspirations; they are a little cliche, but Tesla to me represents the idealism and visionary promise of any human in the face of a society that condones and suppresses reason and progress, while Einstein highlights the potential and genius of the human mind in its ability to unlock the secrets of the universe. To me they represent the hope that despite what society might dictate, in the end logic, reason, and understanding will trump all other beliefs; that promise gives me the drive and hope that someday, in some small way, I too will change the way world works, and that to me is the ultimate inspiration.

In short, they let me believe that "All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident."

Aug 26 2012:
As others who have listed several names of people who inspired them as role models, I am cautious to pick "one" person and label them as my "most important" role model. To me, to do that would make one person more important than all others who have also inspired me. I don't think inspiration can or should try to be quantified. Anyone who inspires me, in any way, is just as good a role model as anyone else who also does it.

Aug 26 2012:
I agree Rick, and as Linda insightfully states... there are different role models for different aspects of my life.
There are WAY too many inspirational people to even begin to narrow the field of possibilities in choosing only one....that is WONDERFUL to know in my heart:>)

Sep 1 2012:
Ok Rick and Colleen, nice try of to get out of answering. (jk) I agree, inspiration can come from anyone in different situations, and being eclectic in inspirational and role model inputs is perfectly fine. Unless you think that role models and the type of answer you give here will tell alot about the person himself.

Having said that, you can name a random 5. I will personally make sure the rest won't get offended, and those wont be used for psychoanalysis purposes.

Sep 1 2012:
I'm not trying to "get out of answering" Imad....that is not my practice. I answer questions to the best of my ability based on what I perceive, and believe. I have no fear of offending anyone, nor do I have any concerns about naming role models.

As I said...there are many different role models for many different aspects of my life, and WAY too many to even begin to narrow the field. Sorry you are not content with my answer Imad.

I sometimes might change my point of view with new information, but the only new information you provided was your disappointment in how I answered your question:>)
Not enough for me to change my point of view:>)

Aug 26 2012:
Gandhi
MLK
JFK
Sun Tsu
Buddha
Mather Theresa
Hitler - (do not get me wrong he was a great communicator and he showed us what unification can achieve; although his achievement was bloody and unaccepted by mankind)
Steve Jobs
Einstein
Mandela
Shakespeare
etc

all these people was a historical figures and with their actions they all had messages for us - politic / religius / spiritual / poetic / etc

Aug 26 2012:
My only take on Hitler is that he unified people against a fanatic selfcentered message, The Arian race and its supremecy (to name one). I wonder if he could have pulled it off with the same weight if the message was love thy brother, and let's all love one another.

The fanatic message in this case takes quite a chunk from his "achievement."

I do appreciated your thought and ideas about him, so I do share with everyone who think that about him. because I do believe what he did was one of the most yet unexplainable act to mankind.
and I also believe that he read the same Bible as we do.

Am I allowed to bring similar acts here that has happened throughout the history of human being?
(I am afraid that my comment will be deleted soon by admins) yet I will give a go.
Spaniards in Latin America - during 1400s by the "great" explorer - a slave driver.
Leopold the Second of Belgium - in Africa (Congo) yet they never excused themselves.
Taleat Pasha of Turkey - against Armenians in 1915 yet they don't want to recognise.
England in India (and many countries in the worlds)
The pages of history is full of such acts.
Yet seeing and "Understanding" what Hitler did - What happened exactly after that in Japan?
I know any time I mention his name here people comment on - I do value all ideas.

can I ask you to think / imagine if you were in his (Hitler's) shoes NOW and having all the communication and persuasion skills he had, yet knowing what he did was unaccepted what you would do with these skills?

let me tell you first what I would do if I could talk like he talked.
If I only could talk like him - persuading almost a whole nation to be united and make them do what I want them to do - I would make them to plant trees! ( or anything positive that humans will enjoy for the years that will come) - but unfortunately I can't talk like he talked.

Sep 1 2012:
Admins seem to be open minded, as they should be, and as I would expect.

My main argument is that different messages might require different communication skills to resonate with people. A consultant uses different comms skills from that of a doctor, a sales person, or a tyrant.
Tyrants might play on passion, prejudice, and other subliminal strings. Other people might play on explicit logic and thus their communication skills would be different.

Having said that, I guess with "greater" communication skills, I would increase the ripples that I would create in society, from a biased environmental perspective. We must learn to share where sharing is due, and live in unavoidable harmony.

I am inspired by Gandhi and his actions too; he was the man who showed us the way out of madness and yet not him neither the world realised it.
somehow we managed to ignore it; if you go trough the pages of history we humans never been able to follow their actions; but we killed them;

Jesus Christ has been killed
Buddha has been killed
Gandhi has been killed
Martin Luther King
JFK
etc

Sep 19 2012:
Jane Goodall. She is a powerful role model for girls in general. Smart, observant, intuitive. She went to where the evidence could be recorded, living in the jungle, paying attention. She learned how to live and prosper in a male-dominated field, advanced humankind's awareness of ecology, habitat, community. Her work has made a difference for primates. It's made a difference for girls and women and animals and science. And she just kept at it and at it and at it. I admire her to no end.

Sep 16 2012:
Another modern figure - Christopher Hichens is high on my admiration chart for entering a social environment here on earth about as forbidding as the out of earth environment explored by Mr. Armstrong.

He also recently past away, but at a much younger age. His profession was as journalist and writer. His legacy may be best described as debater extraordinaire. He was dedicated to exposing religions for short comings. It was on this subject that he caught my attention.

No matter where you come down on this sensitive topic, you owe it to yourself to listen to one or two of his many debates on the subject (check out Youtube). In my opinion his dedication and legacy was and is to enrich critical thinking about the nature of the real world.

The reason I admire Christopher Hitchens is wrapped up in what i perceive as three distinctive and valuable aspects of his rich personality: intellectual honesty, personal courage and the ability to connect with an audience through wit and logic via his unique and civil "Hich Style."

Sep 16 2012:
actually i didn'thave one ,i am a chinese ,everyday i just do my own business,nor do i care abut it .we chinese usually do not talk about something like this .we may say that how wonderful mj dances,we just see his moves.oh god .we do not adore someone.we think that we ourselves are the best ! what about your country .and how do your people purchase a star?is it crazy?

Sep 18 2012:
I think the problem with a lot of people, mainly Americans, is we try to emulate our idols or people that inspire us, more often than utilizing them as motives for inspired improvement. I think everyone should have someone motivate them in a means of how they can make themselves better than that person or industry or profession or whatever it may be. But I feel the same way as you in a sense, I know there are people better than me at what I do however, but I do what I can to exceed those limits and make me the best. lol

Sep 11 2012:
Jacque Fresco for looking globally and holistically at how we can improve our world to one that emphasize collaboration, sharing of resources and how to relate to one another, so that human behaviors such as greed, hunger for power and basically every other negative and detrimental behaviors can be phased out thus making our monetary system obsolete by putting science and technology in the core of societal management which would provide everybody on Earth with the necessities of life and a quality of standard never imagined before.

Sep 5 2012:
My brother was my role model as I grew up. He would come home from school (he is 3 years older than me) and relay to me what he's learned and express how he felt about it. It was like having a Ted Talk come charging through the door, passionate and articulate about what it wants the world to know. I was inspired by him but also I challenged his ideas, and together we would create a solution or refine a question. I was happy to live in my own thoughts as a child but he inspired me each day to share ideas and be passionate about what I believe in.

Sep 2 2012:
i cant say role model but i would have to say that many of teds speakers are inspiring. I believe that if we could take bits and pieces of these talks and use them in every day life we would be a better people, sound so easy but difficult to do. I cant say any one ted talk has changed me but they keep nudging me into doing the more moralistic, correct,, proper, kind action. thank you George

Aug 31 2012:
All people around me: young to old, men to women, friends, family, teachers. I have learned what is important in our life to have a good relationships with people you meet. I am not a good speaker of my feeling, thinking, and opinions, but learning from their ways of expressing their attitudes and minds, I learned how to do them. From now on, I will keep myself modest and learn anything important in our life.

Aug 29 2012:
Nikola Tesla is one of my biggest hero's, not a role model because he was terrible business man, for example he managed to intern for Thomas Edison in a short time being there he had been promoted to the assistant to Edison. Edison asked him to redesign two turbines need for his Direct Current, Edison offered him 50000$ to do the work so he did and when he asked Thomas about the payment the reply was you just don't understand American humor. But this didn't stop him, he had an amazing mind that could visualize objects quite clearly until he tried to touch them. Another reason I like him is because of his dream for free and wireless electricity for the entire world. He tried to make the earth a conductor so whenever you needed electricity all you would have to do is stick a mettle pole into the ground. He was an inventor and idealist, trying to make the world a better place. Unfortunately his life was cut short with mass amounts of debts. He is probably the most under appreciated inventor of his time.

Sep 1 2012:
And what was stopping him from being an inventor and a keen business man at the same time? Do these two professions require that disparate traits that can't be fulfilled in parallel in one person?

Sep 5 2012:
I first learned about him on this really funny sheet http://theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla. Then I googled him. He is indeed an inspiration, and he was a bad business man, which is not a bad human quality.

Aug 29 2012:
Martin Luther King. He stood up to discrimination and poverty and helped pave the way for greater equal rights in America. No one can ever say that one person can't make a difference in this world. We can all make a difference. The only thing we need is the hunger. We need to want something badly enough.